Restitution, Fines, and Forfeiture: Issues for Further Review and
Oversight (Testimony, 06/28/94, GAO/T-GGD-94-178).

Criminal monetary penalties, mainly fines and restitution, are important
tools in the criminal justice system. Most fine payments go to the Crime
Victims Fund, which makes grants to support victim assistance programs.
According to the Justice Department, outstanding criminal debt soared
from $300 million to $3.6 billion between fiscal years 1985 and 1993.
Much of this increase is linked to penalties imposed in financial
institution fraud cases. Because of severe data limitations and other
factors, it is extremely difficult to assess how effectively federal
agencies can collect criminal debts or how much of the outstanding debt
is realistically collectible. GAO believes that several areas merit
further review and continued oversight. Until the National Fine
Center--created to centralized criminal data collection and provide
up-to-date information on the payment of criminal debt--is fully
operational on a national basis, efforts to review the government's
criminal debt collection performance will continue to be hampered.
Although it is important to identify suspects' assets early on during an
investigation, before the assets can be moved or spent, GAO found little
information on how effectively the Justice and Treasury Departments
locate assets in criminal debt cases. Justice has acknowledged
shortcomings in identifying assets for forfeiture. Thus, more attention
might be paid to Justice's efforts to identify and locate assets that
could be seized, forfeited, or otherwise used to meet later criminal
debt obligations.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-GGD-94-178
     TITLE:  Restitution, Fines, and Forfeiture: Issues for Further 
             Review and Oversight
      DATE:  06/28/94
   SUBJECT:  Crimes or offenses
             Restitution
             Fines (penalties)
             Government collections
             Victim compensation
             Search and seizure
             Law enforcement
             Debt collection
             Management information systems
             Claims settlement
IDENTIFIER:  Crime Victims Fund
             BOP Inmate Financial Responsibility Program
             IRS Refund Offset Program
             Raleigh (NC)
             DOJ Assets Forfeiture Fund
             Treasury Asset Forfeiture Fund
             
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